Bathtub seat

ABSTRACT

A CONVENIENT SEAT FOR A PERSON WITHIN A BATHTUB, THE SEAT COMPRISING A PAIR OF VERTICAL SIDE PANELS SLIDABLE ALONG OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE TUB, THE VERTICAL SIDE PANELS SUPPORTING THEREBETWEEN A REMOVABLE UPPER SEAT AND A HINGED LOWER SEAT, THUS ACCOMMODATING FULLY ADJUSTABLY ALL PERSONS.

March 16, 1971 OS R 3,570,019

BATHTUB SEAT Filed July 24, 1969 FIG. l

INVENTOR. ALF/QED OSBORNE United States Patent 3,570,019 BATHTUB SEAT Alfred Osborne, 222 Walter St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15210 Filed July 24, 1969, Ser. No. 845,944 Int. Cl. A47k 3/ 12 US. Cl. 4-185 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A convenient seat for a person within a bathtub, the seat comprising a pair of vertical side panels slideable along opposite sides of the tub, the vertical side panels supporting therebetween a removeable upper seat and a hinged lower seat, thus accommodating fully adjustably all persons.

This invention relates generally to bathtub seats.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved bathtub seat for a bather and which is safe and cannot slide or tip over.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bathtub seat which is adjustable to two levels.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bathtub seat wherein the weight of a person using the seat makes it safe, the more weight applied, the safer the seat, and when there is no weight applied to the seat, the same may be moved slideably forward or backwards along the tub for a bathers convenience.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide an improved 'bathtub seat which is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to use and eflicient in operation.

These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the present invention shown placed in a bathtub, and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the seat.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral represents an improved bathtub seat according to the present invention wherein there is an assembly comprised of a pair of vertically upstanding, spaced apart end walls 11 each of which has a lower portion 12 that depends along an inner side of the opposite side walls 13 of a bathtub 14. The downward depending lower portions 12 accordingly are slightly inclined so as to conform to the sloping inner wall of the bathtub sides.

The upper ends of the end walls are each provided with a top rail 15 against which a person may brace himself for steadying himself when arising from the seat.

Along each outer side of each end wall 11 there is provided a cleat 16 which rests normally upon the upper edge 17 of the bathtub side wall or wall and which supports the entire unit.

Near the upper end of each top rail there is provided on an inner side thereof a bracket 18 secured thereto, the bracket 18 being of generally U-shaped configuration and having a slot so as to receive therein an angle shaped lug 19 secured to each opposite end of a upper seat located between the end walls 11. The upper seat 20 is accordingly readily removeable by simply raising the same so as Patented Mar. 16, 1971 to disengage the lugs 19 from the opening formed by the bracket 18.

Near a lower end of the end walls, there is secured on an inner side thereof a hinge 21, the hinges being pivotally secured to the opposite ends of a lower seat 22 positioned between the end walls.

The present bathtub seat may be manufactured of any material desireable by a manufacturer and may accordingly be made of moulded plastic, aluminum metal, or the like, and which accordingly should be of relatively light weight so that the same may be made to slide along the bathtub.

In operative use, a person may use either the upper or lower seat, the upper seat being removeable so to provide access for use of the lower seat, and the entire unit may be slideable along the upper edge of the bathtub. Thus a person can be fully comfortable when sitting upon the seat for bathing purposes in a bathtub.

What I now claim is:

1. A bathtub seat comprising a pair of spaced apart generally vertically disposed elongate end walls having upper and lower ends, at least one generally horizontally disposed elongate seat supported at its opposite ends on said side walls, the lower ends of said side walls being inclined toward one another so as to conform generally to the shape of the inner walls of a bathtub on which said seat is used, and the upper ends of said end walls extending upwardly beyond the plane of the seat and upwardly beyond the upper edges of the walls of said bathtub when said seat is positioned thereon so as to define hand rail means for grasping by the user of the seat to aid the user in lowering himself to the seat and rising therefrom.

2. The bathtub seat as set forth in claim 1 wherein a second seat is disposed above the first seat and vertically aligned therewith, the second seat being disposed between the upper ends of the end walls and supported thereby.

3. The bathtub seat as set forth in claim 2 wherein the second seat is removably mounted on the upper ends of the end walls.

4. The bathtub seat as set forth in claim 3 wherein each of the end walls have on an inner surface thereof, bracket means which are horizontally aligned, and the second seat carries downwardly extending lug members on each end thereof which are received by the bracket means to support the second seat.

5. The bathtub seat as set forth in claim 1 wherein the lower ends of said side walls have hinge means positioned on an inner surface of each side wall with the first seat having each end thereof connected to the hinge means whereby the side walls may be pivoted towards each other and over the first seat when the same has been removed from the bathtub.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 488,011 12/1892 Keene 4185 602,125 4/1898 Burrows 4-185 797,451 8/1905 McBryde 4l85 1,543,238 6/1925 Sturges 4-l85 2,112,662 3/1938 Bentz 4l85 2,236,927 4/1941 Thomas 4-185 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner D. B. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner 

